Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Acupuncture needling versus lidocaine injection of trigger points in myofascial pain syndrome in elderly patients--a randomised trial.
To compare the efficacy of acupuncture needling and 0.5% lidocaine injection of trigger points in myofascial pain syndrome of elderly patients. ⋯ There was no significant difference between acupuncture needling and 0.5% lidocaine injection of trigger points for treating myofascial pain syndrome in elderly patients.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Point injection as an alternative acupuncture technique--an exploratory study of responses in healthy subjects.
Point injection as a therapeutic technique is well documented, but its physiological effects have not been formally compared with traditional acupuncture. One aim of this study was to compare the effects of the two techniques at one acupuncture point, as a step towards understanding the mode of action of point injection and validating its clinical use. A second aim was to explore whether repeated point injection at the same site might provide a way of increasing the dose of stimulation, in the hope of identifying a dose response curve which could be an alternative strategy to placebo control in demonstrating the biological effects of acupuncture. ⋯ Point injection and traditional acupuncture seem to provoke similar physiological responses, although the greater needle sensation seen with point injection might indicate it could have more powerful clinical effects. Further studies of repeated point injection are necessary to indicate whether this technique may provide a method of increased strength of point stimulation, as an alternative to traditional needling in acupuncture research.